We select (d). The U.S. could very well be on the brink of its second recession in three years. Unemployment refuses to stay below 9 percent, growth is weak, and housing continues to drag down the economy. Here are the ten clearest signs that we could be on the precipice of a double dip.

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It is any wonder that many Americans believe that the economic
downturn is still in progress? Home prices have fallen to 2002 levels.
Values have dropped nearly 50% in parts of Florida, California, Nevada,
and Arizona. Property values are also down that much in parts of
troubled big cities like Detroit. Estimates are that as many as 11
million homes have underwater mortgages. Banks have inventories of as
many as 2 million foreclosed homes which have not even been released to
the market. Home prices could fall another 10% if current trends
persist.

Perhaps the most powerful argument that the recession never ended or
that a new one has begun is the persistence of unemployment. Fourteen
million people are out of work. A third of those have been jobless for
more than a year. May employment data showed the jobless rate rose
unexpectedly and that the economy added only 58,000 jobs. Experts
believe that the unemployment rate will not improve significantly until
the monthly gain in jobs is consistently 300,000 jobs or more. And, at
that rate the gains would have to go one for more than two years to
bring the economy back to what is traditionally considered a reasonable
unemployment figure.